An airplane used by Tom Cruise's movie crew crashed on Friday in Colombia, leaving two people dead and another one with serious injuries.
In a cruel twist of fate, a light passenger aircraft being used to transport Tom Cruise's movie crew for his new film "Mena" has crashed into the Colombian Andes on Friday. According to People, there were two fatalities from the crash and one rushed to a hospital in Medellin because of serious injuries. The two casualties were identified as Alan David Purwin, an American pilot and Carlos Berl, a Colombian. Jimmy Lee Garind, also a pilot from the U.S. is being treated for injuries as of press time.
In a report by NY Daily News, a Colombian aviation official said that the airplane that crashed is a twin-engine Aerostar which encountered bad weather shortly after taking off from Santa Fe de Antioquia. The official also said one of the pilots killed, Purwin, was a Hollywood flyer who was the founder of Los Angeles Company Helinet Technologies that provides aerial surveillance to police and other government agencies. His company's website listed as part of his film pilot projects blockbuster movies such as "Transformers," "Pearl Harbor," and "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Cruise, who is also a licensed pilot, was not on the ill-fated aircraft. The "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation" star and his crew already finished filming "Mena" which incidentally is a story about Barry Seal who is an American pilot who smuggled drugs for Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar and then became a DEA agent.
Universal Pictures also issued a statement confirming the crash that involved people who worked as part of the cast and crew of "Mena" which they will be distributing on release. "An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following production wrap on the film Mena resulting in two fatalities," a spokesperson said.
